There have been rumors that several aging veteran NASCAR Cup Series drivers are considering stepping away from the sport following the 2020 season, as the NextGen car is expected to debut for the 2021 season.
Well, if you had Kevin Harvick penciled in as one you expected to step away, erase the 2014 Cup Series champion’s name now.
During a media availability Saturday, at Daytona International Speedway Harvick revealed that he will not be retiring anytime soon.
It all started with a question about the dynamics involved with recent news that Harvick will reduce his time in the booth for NASCAR on FOX for NASCAR Xfinity Series races, something Harvick has done often and quite successfully over the past few years.
After explaining that he wanted more free time to spend with his family, Harvick went on to say, “The other piece was that in order to do that stuff right, it isn’t just the show. It is the production meetings and the time and you have things coming up from a development standpoint that are going to take a lot of time at the end of the year to get prepared for 2021 from a testing standpoint.
“For me, I am intrigued by that. For me, that will keep me in the car for a few more years as we go through 2023 and then we will see where we are at.”
This confirms that Harvick will be in the No. 4 car until at least the end of the 2023 season.
Harvick’s old deal with SHR was scheduled thru 2021, so he unlikely would have retired from the sport following this season — unless there was an absolute medical need to do so — regardless.
A future NASCAR Hall of Famer, Harvick, 44, has 49-career NASCAR Cup Series wins and he has finished inside the top-four of the Cup Series Championship standings in each of the last three seasons, and five of the last six years.
